


the sharpest arrowhead cannot fly without fletching

by drelfina, evocates



Series: A Very Chinese ABO [2]
Category: Joy of Life (TV), 庆余年 | Joy of Life (TV), 庆余年 | Qing Yu Nian (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Sexual Assault, Canon - Chinese Drama, Chinese Character, Chinese Language, Consequences, Gender Roles, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sexual Grooming, In other words this is a very Chinese version of ABO, Leadership, M/M, Manipulation, OF minor and unnamed characters; "mere guards"), Other, Politics, Rights and Responsibilities vs Privilege and Indulgence, Royalty, What must you do and become if you want to be taken seriously as a contender for the throne?, the issues with being an imperial child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24369619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drelfina/pseuds/drelfina, https://archiveofourown.org/users/evocates/pseuds/evocates
Summary: Imperial Omega Prince Li Chengze ties his hair like a beta, and moves out of the Imperial Palace and establishes his own Residence before he's fifteen.In order to be taken seriously as a beta prince, he has a long way to go.
Relationships: Chen Pingping/Qing Di, Li Chengze/Xie Bi'an
Series: A Very Chinese ABO [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761676
Comments: 18
Kudos: 22





	the sharpest arrowhead cannot fly without fletching

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evocates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evocates/gifts).



> Drelfina: This is again Evocates' fault. They basically aided and abetted and basically co-wrote and scripted entire sections, particularly Chen Pingping's sections - and any section involving the emperor because good lord they're hard to write but Evocates does it so beautifully. 
> 
> The ghost of both Chinese language and culture hovers over this fic _because_ of this very specific scripting, and therefore there might be some aspects in language where I had issue with trying to use English terms or non-translated Chinese terms. Hanyu pinyin looks terrible, but it is not much worse than using Japanese terms either, so I just picked and chose where I wanted. 
> 
> This is an extremely Chinese-style fic based on the tv-show (not the book), and from my and evocates' experience in growing up with East Asian media. My Chinese is not anywhere near as good as Evocates', so any mistakes and missteps in Culture and word and turn of phrase is entirely my own. 
> 
> The ABO is also entirely borrowed from evocates' worldbuilding, specifically from [her Three Kingdoms series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/761001) in which omegas need a sense of safety before they can go into heat. I still have not seen any ABO like this.
> 
> * * *
> 
> The title comes from 镞砺括羽 (zú lì kuò yǔ): implying that one needs the soft along with the hard to get anything done.

When Li Chengze was fourteen, he moved out of his mother's quarters. 

He hadn't gotten to declare he was going to do so; his mother had, during one of those times she focused back into the present rather than the worlds of the ancients and poetry, noted that he'd tied his hair up like a beta, and told her servants to prepare for her son to leave the Palace. 

He had pouted for two days, because he had been trying to figure out a way to dramatically tell his Imperial Father the news _himself_ , and instead his oldest brother had shown up with his own personal squad to escort Chengze to his new residence outside of the Palace walls. 

Even if it was very big and very pretty, and exactly the residence he would have chosen, but he'd wanted to _tell_ his father that. 

Mother had always been perceptive. When she wanted to be. 

Still, it was his own residence, and the novelty of getting to _enter_ the Imperial Palace and being _announced_ in was exciting, and he didn't have to keep running into his younger brother, the Crown Prince if he didn't want to, because now he was announced into the _rest_ of the Palace, like an adult, serious, beta prince! 

(Even if he wasn't yet fifteen, it was still almost adult. Close enough.) 

He was _invited_ to lunch with his father, a week after he moved out, and the whole mess of preparations around him -- servants from his mother and the palace, which he'd get to pick who to keep eventually -- was a bustle he wasn't sure he'd ever get tired of. 

And it turned out that Father had also invited his Oldest Brother to lunch too, and the seat prepared for him had been at Father's right hand of the small table, rather than wherever Chengze felt like sitting at. A setting prepared for him like Father truly took him seriously in his chosen role of beta, and was treating him like an equal to his older brother, rather than an indulged child. 

Chengze settled into his place smug and pleased right until his Oldest Brother said, "We've a list of guards for you." 

"What," Chengze said, almost dropping his tofu back into the main plate. 

Oldest Brother glanced to Father, and then back to him. "Appearances, little brother." 

"I'm supposed to get to choose them!" Chengze said in dismay. "I get to choose my own servants and household, and my own guards!" 

"It's been a week," Father said, and Chengze scowled. 

"A week is hardly that long a time," he said. "I'm getting everything settled." 

Father hummed, and Chengze pouted. Sure, he could have arranged for it before he made to move out, but Mother's servants were very efficient, and even he hadn't quite planned for how quickly the Palace moved for himself. 

A week was still too short a time for Chengze to organise his own guards!

"It's not fair to make that an expectation-" Chengze started. 

"That is true," Oldest Brother said, "And you know that I have many guards to spare, so of course it is easier for me to find you a list of subordinates I trust with your safety." 

Oldest Brother was sweet, Chengze thought, stabbing his rice with his chopsticks, but Father allowing him to say so was also drilling in that Chengze was young yet, inexperienced, and had no supporters of his own. If Chengze was to be taken seriously, he should have been able to pull out his own list of guards he wanted as soon as Oldest Brother had mentioned a list; now he was supposed to take the list Oldest brother handed him and mumble thanks like he was actually taught _some_ manners.

* * *

The thought of having a martial arts competition to pick the top twenty from the guards Oldest Brother had given him was entertaining for all of five minutes, so Chengze discarded that idea before he mentioned it. 

A fortnight of staying in his residence had him realising that it wasn't quite as fun to be living outside like Oldest Brother did; having to wait to be summoned, invited, or having to ask at the gates was an extra step when he'd grown up having the entire run of the palace. 

In the palace, the guards had always been invisible - but now in his own residence, even as he wandered around, the guards were prominent, armoured; when he wanted to go out and take a look at the city (which, a privilege he was not unaware of), the _fuss_ of organizing ten or twenty depending on the distance was starting to irritate him. 

But that was still not so bad… 

As the fact that all of them were _old_. 

"But Da Ge, they're all so _old_ and _boring_!" Chengze complained to his brother when he came to visit. "All of these old men don't know _anything_!" 

"Half of them are women," Oldest Brother said, amused. 

" _Old_ ," Chengze insisted, which was the whole _point_. None of them had read any of the books Chengze read, and they wouldn't discuss anything with him other than saying _Yes, Your Highness_ , which made for terrible conversation. 

"They're also trained warriors who had been fighting by my side for years," Older Brother said, still looking amused, as he peeled an orange and put the segments into Chengze's hand.

"They none of them know how to play any new games other than dice," Chengze said, eating the orange segments. 

"That means they're disciplined and not frivolous," Older Brother said. 

" _Boring_ ," Chengze said, then squinted at the purple things in the bowl next to the oranges. "What's that?" 

"Shanzhu," Older brother said. "It comes from much further south." 

Chengze poked its thick dark skin and frowned. 

Older brother picked one up and started cutting the thick rind with a small knife. 

"Why couldn't I have picked my own guards?" Chengze said. "They are so old and boring, it's not like I can't have guards who also read and play games and at least know where the fun things to look at in the city are!" 

"Soldiers who play games and read aren't soldiers," Older Brother said, and put one white fleshy segment into Chengze's mouth before he could protest. 

The taste was just that hint of sharp, but unlike an orange's, the flesh creamy and melted easily against his tongue. 

Chengze blinked for a moment, then held out his hand for more of the white segments while he chewed. 

Older brother held out his hand to allow Chengze to spit out the seeds into his palm. 

"But that makes them boring blocks of wood," Chengze said. "They're boring!" 

"You could always go and visit Wan'er," Older brother said, dropping the seeds into a small empty bowl, and started to peel another shanzhu. 

"I have to _ask_ to be allowed _into_ the palace," Chengze said. "And it takes all day for the guards to get ready, I can't just go just when I want to." 

"They're too slow?" Older brother said. "Well then I'll have a talk with them." 

Chengze made a face. "It's not their fault they have to get the armour and everything ready for protocol," Chengze said. It wasn't their fault they were old, boring and slow. 

They just… were _old boring and slow_. 

"I'll find you faster guards then," Older Brother said and Chengze scrunched his nose just a little. Faster just took care of the slow, but not the old and boring - knowing his brother and Father, they'd probably find guards who were _swift of foot_ but probably three times Chengze's age and definitely ten times as boring. 

It was already boring enough to be surrounded by servants whose script never wavered from greetings in the morning and mealtimes -- at least his mother's servants used to talk about the books. Now if he wanted conversation he had to _eavesdrop_. 

He wasn't very good at it, though, and thought briefly about learning some sort of qing'gong, but he also knew that if he opened his mouth and asked for a teacher, he'd be given one that was sixty years old and utterly dedicated to qing'gong and nothing else. 

And questions as to why, exactly, he wanted to learn it. And "I want to eavesdrop on people who might have interesting gossip" was guaranteed to raise eyebrows.

"I don't want faster guards," Chengze said, knowing his tone was petulant. 

Older Brother huffed in amusement, and handed him the white segments before finally pulling forward a plate of grapes. 

Chengze stuffed the white fruit into his mouth and reached for the grapes. 

"I'm not sure what else I can do then," Older Brother teased, as Chengze hurriedly spat out the shanzhu seeds into the plate that Older brother held up to him so he could pull off five grapes from the stalks at once. "No faster guards, but you don't want proper guards; yet I would fail to perform my duty by giving you substandard guards." 

"Guards don't have to be old and boring," Chengze said. Which wasn't the answer he wanted to give, because Older Brother was definitely not going to allow him to choose his own guards at all. 

"So you want your older brother to be punished for providing substandard protection?" Older Brother said, and it was only because he was smiling that Chengze merely tossed a grape at his face rather than cling to his side in apology.

Older Brother caught the grape and ate it. 

"I'll have a talk with your guards when I leave," he told Chengze. "So you liked the shanzhu?" 

"They're alright," Chengze said. 

"Then I'll have a shipment brought in for you," Older Brother said, and pushed the plate of grapes closer to him. 

Chengze tossed more grapes at his older brother, then made a sound of dismay when Older Brother made to eat _all_ them. 

Older Brother laughed and dropped them back into his hands. 

"It'll be fine, you'll get used to the guards," he told Chengze. "And I have a whole new set of books that you might like." 

"Interesting books?" Chengze said, perking up. 

"You might like to share them with Wan'er," Older Brother said, reaching over to ruffle Chengze's fringe, careful to leave his hairpiece untouched. "Well, now. It's getting late, you don't have to see me out." 

"Maybe I want to," Chengze said, catching his hand, and his older brother laughed, patting his knuckles and helping Chengze up to his feet. 

"Make sure to dress warm when the weather gets colder," Older brother said. 

"You could come back and make sure I do," Chengze said, which wasn't quite a tease. 

"Maybe," Older Brother said.

Except they both knew that when the season turned, Older Brother would be riding out again to the border, and he wouldn't see Older brother for _months_.

* * *

Chengze's complaint about his guards being slow wasn't exactly wrong. 

It was easy enough, eventually, to learn how they thought, how they moved, and it took less than three weeks before Chengze lost his guards in the big fascinating, complex world of the Capital City.

He felt incredibly light, to be tripping down the street, knowing that his guards were five streets away and he couldn't even hear them calling for him, and no one's eyes on him at all. 

He could tuck his hands into his sleeves and saunter down the streets, peering at the various sweets and fruit and goods on display, barely knowing what they were and eagerly taking the samples that they held out to him. 

(He knew he was supposed to pay for the actual goods, but it wasn't like he had money with him or a servant, so he would just take the samples, touch the embroidery, and flutter away.) 

It took him twenty minutes to realise that well, it wasn't entirely true that no one's eyes were on him; he bit the apple he had been given (given, he didn't _take_ it) and listened as they whispered about him. 

"Whose son is he?"

"The Minister of Finance?"

Chengze smirked behind his apple - the _Assistant_ Minister of Finance had an omega child, that was true, but it was an omega _daughter,_ an absolute baby at eleven. 

No one was rude enough to ask him though; they were perfectly polite when he spoke to them to ask about the sweets on sale, and answered him as if he was a young beta master, which was just how he liked it. 

Certainly no one was rude enough to suggest he was someone's concubine - no concubine or wife would wear their hair like a beta. 

He finished his apple, smug with the confusion he was leaving in his wake, and wandered down another street.

* * *

"The Second Prince left his palace with his guards."

The Chairman of the Investigative Bureau hummed, and poured himself a drink as Zhu Ge, head of the first division, nodded, "Yes, Chairman."

"Would you like to place a bet on whether he is going to try to slip them?" the Chairman said, almost idly. But there was never an idle question, not with him.

"... should we follow him?" Zhu Ge said. 

The Chairman put his cup down with a delicate clink. "Of course. But don't let him be aware." 

The Chairman turned a little, hands spinning his wheelchair just enough that Zhu Ge could see the faint amusement in his smile. "I have a feeling something interesting might happen." 

Zhu Ge just bowed his acknowledgement of the order.

* * *

Xie Bi'an wouldn't have bothered with the whispers.

He did, after all, have work to do. A spoiled child wandering the streets in obviously expensive clothing without an escort wasn't any of his business, even if there were obvious child-snatchers starting to follow the little idiot. 

It was an easy way to get money - kid like that, his parents were rich and probably would pay a lot in ransom. 

Granted, such rich people would _also_ be able to pay to… "take care of" any would-be-kidnappers, so that was the risk you took if you wanted to snatch rich idiot children off the streets. 

Then the wind shifted. 

The wind shifted and suddenly Xie Bi'an understood the incredible danger, and why they were willing to take the risk. 

That was an _omega_. 

An _omega boy_.

It wouldn't be just ransom, because an omega boy was so rare that his price might be astronomical. Even the young omega girls who ended up in the orphanage only stayed a week at the most before they had buyers -- true orphans from the wartorn zones with parents who were definitely dead. 

Put the silk sleeves, the young age, and the fact he was an omega boy together -- he stood a good chance of being drugged and _hurt_. 

And Bi'an… couldn't let that happen. 

He noted the number of people following the boy -- Five… no, seven. Casually making one particular fork of the street a little more crowded, carefully herding the boy down to an isolated alley that Bi'an _knew_ was a dead end.. Three of them put something into the folds of their clothes, up their sleeves, and Bi'an carefully put his buckets down, and slid the bamboo pole out from under their handles. 

Those had _not_ been knives they were casually pocketing. 

The boy smiled brightly at someone handing him an orange, and cheerfully wandered down the alley that he had been obliviously herded into. 

Bi'an tightened his grip on the bamboo pole, knuckles white as he noted the men walk towards the alley - almost sauntering. If they sauntered past, he would just be wrong. He would just…. 

They turned _into the alley_. 

Bi'an wasn't _wrong_.

* * *

"Chairman, the latest report from the First Division states that a boy was seen following His Highness." Chen Pingping glanced up at his subordinate's pause. 

Wang Qinian took a breath. "A boy we know." 

Ah. 

"He'd passed by the Cixi Orphanage earlier," Chen Pingping mused. "Xie Bi'an?" 

Wang Qinian bowed a little lower. "Yes, Chairman." 

"Send a message to the Eldest Prince," Chen Pingping said, picking up his brush. "Tell him that his brother has lost his guards." 

His clerk nodded, pulling out the pigeon he had already prepared, and went to the door to release it. A good subordinate. Clever. 

Chen Pingping turned back to the report he was writing, and then stilled his hand when he realised that Wang Qinian had returned. 

"Chairman? May I … ask something?" 

No one else would ask something like this, except Wang Qinian. His curious mind meant he was easy to dislike, and kept his rank low. 

Chen Pingping hummed. 

"He's an omega boy," Wang Qinian said, hesitantly. "Aren't you afraid…" 

There was a reason, Chen Pingping thought fondly, that he liked Qinian so much. 

"He is an omega boy deciding to take on the responsibilities and privileges of a beta son," Chen Pingping said. "If he wants to break out of that caste, he needs to know exactly how it limits him." 

His clerk blinked, and frowned a little. Chen Pingping waited for the next question. 

"... limits?" 

"Mmm, limits." 

Because, Chen Pingping didn't need to say, their Second Prince wasn't anywhere near the point where he could use the expectations of an omega to his advantage. 

Not yet.

* * *

"Oh," Chengze said, when he realised that the next turn led to a dead wall. Great. 

He turned around and ran smack into someone's chest. 

"Hey, are you lost?" 

"Of course not," Chengze said, shoving the man away, making a face at the coarse cotton under his fingertips. "Get out of my -" 

A hand caught his wrist. 

Chengze blinked, stymied that someone _dared_ touch him. "Let go." 

When the man smiled down at him, Chengze couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the too-sharp, almost bitter beta-scent. 

"You're so obviously lost, young master," he said, following when Chengze tried to back away. 

"I said I wasn't lost, and you are to let _go_ ," Chengze said, smacking his other hand at him - 

The man caught his other wrist, and yanked, and Chengze stumbled forward. 

Oh. 

Oh _no_. 

"You could come with us," the man said, and Chengze abruptly realised that there wasn't just the one impudent man who dared to touch him like this. The man had _friends_. 

"How dare you," Chengze sputtered, trying to tug his hands free. "You insolent dogs! Let go before I --" 

"Before what?" the man said. "We are merely trying to take you back to your parents." 

"What impertinence!" _No one_ had manhandled him like this before, and Chengze wasn't going to allow this to continue! He kicked at the man's knee, recalling vaguely that his guards used to do something like that during training. 

All that happened was his foot _hurt_. 

"Ow!" 

"Sorry, young Master," the man said, and that expression on his face made Chengze freeze. For some reason, that particular slant of smile sent a shiver down his spine, and not in a good way. 

"You --"

The man pushed forward, even as he yanked Chengze closer, and Chengze's shoes slipped on the paving stones, unable to even brace when he was pushed against a wall. 

"Just come quietly and you'll be home very quickly," he said, and his smile widened. 

"Let go of him!" 

The beta looked away from Chengze, though his grip didn't loosen. "Who's that? Get rid of him-" 

There were suddenly sounds of wood meeting flesh. 

"I said, _let go of him_!" 

The man cursed, let go of Chengze, to turn around. Chengze was too short to see much of what was happening, and besides, it all happened very fast. 

Someone was growling, deep and animalistic, but Chengze couldn't see much other than that suddenly the men who had been surrounding him were gone. There had been yelling - or possibly screams. 

"Come on," someone said, much younger, shorter - and suddenly a boy was tugging at Chengze's sleeve. "Can you get up? We need to run." 

"But --" 

"There are more child-snatchers coming," the boy said, pulling Chengze to his feet.

Chengze saw a body lying close by, not two feet away, and it _moved_. 

Chengze squeaked. "He's getting up!" 

The boy turned, "Cover your face!" 

Chengze had barely time to fling his hands up over his head, shielding his face with his sleeves before the boy did something horrible sounding with the stick. 

Then the boy was back, tugging his sleeve. "Come, get up, we have to go now before more come." 

"There might be more?" 

The boy kept tugging till Chengze straightened up - "Don't lower your sleeves!" His voice cracked a little in his urgency, but Chengze obeyed, keeping his arm above his eyes. "Don't… don't look. It's alright, follow me." 

"I can't follow if I can't see," Chengze said. 

The boy stilled. 

"Then -" the boy said, sounding unsure. 

Chengze reached out with one hand and grabbed onto the boy's belt. "There- that'd work." 

The boy swallowed, hard. 

"If you go slow," Chengze said, "Then I can keep up." 

"Right," the boy said after several heartbeats. "Just. don't lower your sleeve." 

Chengze definitely wasn't going to lower his sleeve; he didn't want to see what the boy had done to defend him either, for all that these men most certainly deserved it. 

"Of course," Chengze said. "Just go."

* * *

Bi'an had never been close to an omega older than five years old; now this omega boy, clearly scared, possibly hurt, was clinging to him. 

If he dared, he'd have picked the boy up and ran, but he needed his arms free, in case the child-snatchers had more friends. 

So he picked his way carefully out of the alleyway, making sure to walk where the boy could follow without stumbling. 

The street, when he leaned out to look, was empty. The street vendors had heard the ruckus and like smart people, had cleared what they could and left. 

He was about to tell the boy that he could drop his sleeve and come out normally, when he heard the rush of boots. 

The boy cried out and pulled backwards. 

Bi'an immediately retreated, turning around. "There are more," he said, urgently. 

Soldiers, maybe, who would be _worse_ , because they had _armour_ and were better fighters. "Stay here," he said, "And don't come out till I say so, alright?" 

The boy barely nodded before Bi'an gently untangled his hand from his belt, and then went out again to the street. 

Guards, he realised, with armour of an unfamiliar colour and a sigil he didn't recognise. 

Those child-snatchers were very well connected indeed, to afford such armour. 

Might even be _foreign_.

They'd clearly tried to be subtle first, but now all silk coverings were thrown off, and _here_ was the real steel. 

Bi'an bared his teeth, and attacked before the first word was uttered. 

He didn't think. 

He didn't _dare_ to. 

There were more of these armed men to capture one small omega boy than he dared to count, so all he focused on was the weak spots of the armour, and blocking those blades. 

If he had one advantage, it was that he had only one spot to protect, and no one else to get in his way - while these armoured thieves had to come at him one at a time. He could stand here and fight, no matter how many of them came at him, as long as it was one at a time - he didn't have to listen to whatever they yelled.

* * *

"There's a fight up ahead, your Highness." 

A fight was a bad sign, His Imperial Highness the Eldest Prince, Li Chengzhong thought. If an omega was hurt, their pain could instigate an all out brawl. 

Even just the shock of witnessing a fight could scare an omega - what more his little brother, lost in the streets? 

He was about to reach for his whip to urge his horse faster, but the soldier continued, "It's the Second Prince's guards against a lone fighter." 

"A lone fighter against my brother's guards?" Interesting. 

His brother's guards were not inexperienced -- to be held off by one lone fighter… well.

It was something he had to see. 

When they arrived at the fight, he supposed he should have been surprised to see that not only had most of his brother's guard been beaten to the floor, but that the lone fighter was incredibly young. Not older than Chengze himself, if anything. 

And - 

A young alpha, growling, and putting out - 

"Ah," Chengzhong said, thoughtfully. 

His men tensed when the alpha glanced towards them. Mate-frenzy, Chengzhong thought, because he wasn't unfamiliar with _that_ particular scent. While there were never any omegas on the battlefield, there were mates enough that no few alphas of his acquaintance had gone into the protective frenzy when they felt their mates or spouses were threatened. 

That one so young was looking just like that, wild-eyed, bleeding almost enough to blind him, and yet he was still standing, teeth bared and refusing to back away into the alley. 

He saw them - and then recognition flared in his eyes, dropping to his knees. "Your Highness!" 

"Why are you fighting in the streets?" Chengzhong said, curious as to what this young alpha was going to say. 

The boy saluted him with - was that an actual piece of _wood_? He'd been fighting off all the guards with a _stick_. 

"Your Highness! If I might beg your forgiveness -" he gulped. Chengzhong doubted he'd even spoken to an official before - the words were straight out of a street opera. 

Chengzhong leaned forward very slightly, waving off his courtesies. 

"It is a disturbance of the city's peace to have a mate-frenzy in the streets," He said. 

The boy went white, mouthing the words _Mate-frenzy?_ like he'd never heard them before. 

"I -" He swallowed again and then continued, "- If Your Highness could - I wish to entrust his safety to you!"

Chengzhong blinked, and before he could react, the boy got back to his feet, turning to the alley and said, "It's alright, the Eldest Prince will take you to your parents-!" 

And then his little omega brother peeked out from behind the boy - and cried out, "Eldest Brother!" 

Chengzhong leapt off his horse and strode forward, his men automatically standing aside so that Chengze didn't have to run more than two steps before Chengzhong was sweeping his little brother up into his arms. 

His little brother burst into tears. 

" _Brother_?" 

Chengzhong didn't turn around at the shocked thump behind him, instead holding his brother closer, tucking his face against his shoulder. "It's alright, Eldest Brother is here - I'll take care of everything." 

He glanced towards his lieutenant, and tipped his head towards the boy, before walking back towards his horse. They wouldn't have time to get his brother's carriage, so he'll carry his brother back with him. 

His lieutenant wouldn't let the alpha boy disappear into the streets.

* * *

The Chairman was swirling the ladle in the water bucket next to the flower patch when Zhu Ge came in. 

"As you had estimated, Chairman," he said, bowing over his salute, "the Eldest Prince and his retinue had reached the Second Prince in time." 

The Chairman dropped the ladle back into the water bucket, and straightened up. Zhu Ge took the wheelchair's handles and pushed till the Chairman was back behind his desk. The Chairman picked up his teapot and poured a cup of tea, and nudged it towards Zhu Ge. 

"Is it bad news then," the Chairman murmured. 

Zhu Ge bowed slightly, before picking up the cup, letting the scent of jasmine fill his nose and chase out the delicate scent of the Chairman. After two breaths, he swallowed it down, draining it. "Xie Bi'an defeated not only the child-snatchers, but also the Second Prince's own guards." 

"Did he, by any chance, borrow a sword or polearm?" the Chairman's voice was lightly curious. 

"No," Zhu Ge said. He still wasn't sure he could believe what he'd seen. He wouldn't have believed it as a report, and he'd saw it with his own eyes. 

"A stick to defeat full-grown men and women, all of them experienced besides…" The Chairman chuckled lightly. Zhu Ge looked up just in time to see the Chairman nod slightly. "Yes, he'd do fine." 

"... Chairman?" 

The Chairman leaned back in his chair, waving a gentle dismissal at him. "There's no need for further action. Just keep monitoring."

* * *

Father checked the string of his bow, starting to tighten it at the nock of the upper limb. "You know that those guards cannot be allowed to live." 

Chengzhong started to bow. "Of course, Father. I will recall them back to my service, and --" 

"No," Father said, before he could finish. "They must die while under Lao Er's banner." 

The bowstring thrummed as his Father tested it, plucking the string very slightly. 

Chengzhong swallowed. Lao Er -- that was the first time he'd heard Father use that term of address for Chengze. That Father no longer called him Ze'er...

"In his residence, where he can hear." 

"But Father-" Chengzhong said, startled at that. He'd been about to just have them executed, but _in Chengze's residence_? 

"He escaped his guards," Father said, gripping the bow's riser, twisting his wrist to check its tension. "After that Alpha he found to protect him--" 

"His name is Xie Bi'an, Father," Chengzhong said. 

"-- beat up the child-snatchers and the guards came rushing in," Father continued as if Chengzhong hadn't interrupted him, "Lao Er did nothing to stop the mate-frenzy. He did nothing to stop the Alpha, which led to the guards being beaten by… how old is that boy again?" 

Lao Er sounded so distant, so cold; Chengzhong still had a ready answer on his tongue even as he swallowed down the sigh. "Thirteen, Father." 

"If Lao Er had been a little smarter, a little braver," Father said, pacing slowly to the stack of arrows he had made, "then his guards would still live. Their children would still have parents." 

Chengzhong exhaled; it wasn't a sigh. "Father, you can't expect Ze- Lao Er to --" 

Father glanced at Chengzhong. "I can and I do, Lao Da. This is the responsibility he took up when he bound up his hair and moved out of the Imperial Residence." He nocked the arrow to the string. 

"But Father --" 

"You're leaving the city next month, Lao Da." Father drew back the arrow, elbow bending. His gaze sighted along the length of the arrow, all the way past it, to the armour set up in his study. 

And beyond. 

Beyond the study, beyond the palace, out into the rest of Great Qing, where numerous armies of enemies stood, forever eager to fall forward and devour. 

"Should I order you to leave next week? Or tomorrow?" 

Chengzhong lowered his head. "Your son will obey, Father." 

Father released the arrow. 

It flashed past Chengzhong to slam straight into the armour's center mass.

* * *

Chengze had begged, when he realised what his older brother was here to do.

Because it hadn't been their fault, that he had tried so hard to lose his guards in the streets of the capital. He had known they'd be punished, of course, but he hadn't realised that it'd be _execution_. 

"Those are your men and women, Older brother!" he'd said. "You trust them!" 

"I _trusted_ them," the Eldest Prince said. "And they'd failed in their duty." 

And his face had been hard, firm, carved from rock, and no pleading would move his brother. 

His brother shut the door behind him, leaving just Chengze and the alpha boy alone in the room. 

The room that overlooked the courtyard. 

The courtyard that held the entirety of the guards that his older brother had entrusted Chengze's safety to, and was now to be their execution ground. 

Because _Chengze_ had slipped their watch and - 

"You failed your duties," he heard his brother's voice through the door. "And let the Imperial Prince come to harm. Do you acknowledge your failure!" 

It wasn't a question - it was a _command_. Twenty voices rang out, "These unworthy slaves deserve death!" even as twenty sets of knees hit the pavement stones as one disciplined group. 

Chengze stood up. 

"Are you - no you shouldn't," the alpha boy said, reaching to grab for him but stopping short of actually touching him. 

Chengze didn't look at him, instead reaching for the door. 

"Your - Your highness, they're going to be _killed_ , you shouldn't see it-!" 

Chengze's fingers touched the wood. He could hear the slide of metal out of a scabbard. 

"Yes. Because of me," he said. "And they deserve to have me witness it." 

Because their failure was on him; this was his fault, his _doing_. 

He didn't need his brother to explain who was teaching him this lesson, teaching them _both_. 

As an omega princeling, his actions had no consequences, he could be as capricious as he desired, be coddled and worry free. 

But if he wanted to be taken seriously, there were consequences. 

"But --" the boy started to say. "You don't have to _see_ -" 

"I very much do," Chengze said, and pulled open the door. He stepped out just in time for the first fall of the blade. 

Actions had consequences.

He wasn't just an omega son. And now twenty families lacked twenty parents, and his brother had lost twenty trusted people. 

He flinched at the first sight of blood, but held himself straight and still for the rest, engraving the view in his memory.

* * *

Bi'an had seen death before; even the capital wasn't free of the consequences of war. Refugees and beggars died on the streets daily, not counting those who he had witnessed being hauled off for execution. 

But knowing someone was to be executed, or seeing a body dead from starvation was not the same as watching twenty people die in quick succession, the puddles of blood and the stink of viscera filling the air. 

They had failed to protect the prince, he thought. Bi'an had not only beat up these guards, he had _touched_ the prince. 

The _Prince_. The _Emperor's omega son_. 

It was a crime punished by not just capital punishment for the offender, but three generations of the offender's entire family would be executed. 

He didn't have family to lose, an orphan with no parents, no children and no siblings, it was just him who would die. The other kids back in the orphanage would not even know … 

The _orphanage._

He had no family, but he came from the Cixi Orphanage. The other orphans were like his siblings, the caretakers like his parents. They would have to take responsibility for _his_ actions, even though he was thirteen already and almost adult. 

He'd touched the Emperor's omega son, and the entire Cixi Orphanage would be executed. 

He inhaled sharply, almost choked on the thick metallic stench of blood. 

The Prince made a little sound. 

His feet moved without thought; he caught the Prince before he could fall to the floor. 

The prince was trembling - or maybe it was just Bi'an. 

"It's," Bi'an said, unsure as to what to say, but it was easier to look at the prince's face than the scene of the courtyard, or listen to the clink of armour as the bodies were - moved. 

The prince's face was white; so white and his lips bloodless. He jerked, a tiny sound falling from his mouth like a sob,and then he was turning his face into Bi'an's shoulder, pressing tight against him. 

Two death sentences, Bi'an thought. Because he was holding the prince close, and patting him -- 

He breathed in. 

….. 

And the sweet scent of something _like_ magnolias drifted from the prince's hair, and Bi'an's mind blanked. 

He twitched when he realised he had been curling over the prince, almost close enough to nose the prince's hair. A third death sentence, he realised. 

"Why did you let him come out?" 

Bi'an jerked his face up to stare at the Eldest Prince, but the tiny little noise the prince in his arms made had him tighten his hold, despite the _fourth_ death sentence that was earning him. 

"I -" Bi'an said. "I couldn't very well stop him!" 

The Eldest Prince's brow furrowed at him. 

"I told you to keep him inside."

Had he? The Eldest Prince hadn't said _anything_ other than to tell his omega brother what was going to happen, that this was some sort of lesson. 

"You hadn't said anything of the sort!" 

The Eldest Prince's eyebrows rose up. 

Bi'an's tongue strangled his throat - he had argued with the Prince. A _fifth_ death sentence! At this rate, he thought hysterically, even ten life times wouldn't be enough to cover all the death sentences he was accruing. 

"I am saying so now," the Eldest Prince said. "Get up." 

He made to crouch down and pick up his brother, Bi'an had to _make_ himself try to loosen his grip, but the Eldest Prince's fingers had barely brushed against his brother's arm, when the little prince flung his arm over Bi'an's shoulder and _clung_.

"So it's like that," the Eldest Prince said, and Bi'an had no idea what to make of his expression. 

The Eldest Prince straightened back up. "Then come along. This is not a place for him to linger." 

Bi'an tried to obey - but while he was taller than the little prince, he wasn't _that_ much taller, his balance was off, and he almost stumbled forward in his effort to stand. 

The Eldest Prince didn't move to catch either of them, his gaze steady and measuring. 

Bi'an had to coax the little prince's arm off his shoulder and get him to his feet before he could straighten up properly. 

When Bi'an's footing was steady, the Eldest Prince turned to walk deeper into the residence, hopefully to a bedroom where he could get the little prince to just… go to sleep. 

The Eldest Prince pushed open another set of doors and strode in, and Bi'an started to guide the little prince over the threshold before he froze. 

It was _really_ the little prince's bedroom, he realised. It _smelled_ of him, sweet and enticing, like the beginning of spring and the taste of honey. 

He gurgled a little, and had to step back. "I - should wait outside, Your Highness," he said a little desperately. 

The little prince made a small noise of confusion, tangling his hand in Bi'an's and tugging. "Why?"

Bi'an yanked his hand back, and took two steps back so he could fall to his knees. "I deserve death - five times, six!" 

The little Prince blinked at him, hand still held out towards him. "Six? No!" He turned to the Eldest Prince, obviously pleading. "No, Older Brother, you can't execute him! He's… He didn't do anything wrong!" 

The Eldest Prince looked at Bi'an, and he hurriedly dropped his head to a bow. 

"Didn't he?" the Eldest Prince inquired mildly. "He laid hands on you." 

"He didn't!" 

As if Bi'an hadn't just been helping the little prince all the way back to his room. As if - 

"I was the one holding onto him then - if it weren't for me, he wouldn't have -" The little Prince cut himself off suddenly, taking a deep breath. His shoulders hunched inwards, as if he was trying to bear a great weight, his small delicate hands clenching into fists.

Bi'an's hand reached out towards him, automatically. But before he could touch - and gain himself his seventh death sentence - the little Prince straightened. Then he wasn't little anymore: now that his shoulders were squared and his back was straight, Bi'an could tell that they were of a height. The Prince's chin jutted out as he stared at his Elder Brother, jaw visibly tightening.

"I have taken him under my banner," he said. "His life and his death will be for me to decide."

"The execution order for your guards," the Eldest Prince said, face mild and voice calm, "came from me, and was performed by me."

"This little brother is full of gratitude," the Prince said, and the resolute salute and bow he made was sharp in its sincerity; it was odd, but Bi'an wasn't sure he could say how he knew that. "But from now on, this little brother will make his own decisions about his people."

"You will take responsibility?" the Eldest Prince asked.

The young prince lifted his eyes, and his gaze was dark. 

And hard. 

"Yes, Xiong Zhang," the younger Prince said. "Thank you for what you have done, but this little brother will not need Xiong Zhang's shelter and favour any longer." 

The Eldest Prince regarded his younger brother for long heartbeats, and then nodded, sharply. "Get some rest then, Er Di." 

The younger Prince kept his bow even as the Eldest Prince walked past and out of the room. The Eldest Prince glanced at Bi'an, before exhaling and turning away to leave wordlessly. 

Bi'an glanced back to the young Prince, who straightened up when the footsteps of his older brother had faded away. His jaw was set, chin up, looking nothing like the indulged carefree child he'd seen in the streets. 

"You know," the prince said, and Bi'an hastily jerked his gaze back down to the floor. "I should know the name of the men I have under my command." 

"This slave is called Xie Bi'an," Bi'an said. 

The prince snorted, a little sharp sound of amusement. "Bi'an. Necessarily safe. How appropriate." 

Bi'an swallowed.

"Get up," the Prince said. "Go to my steward, he will get you supplies and clothing. Tomorrow we shall go over your duties." 

From under his lashes he saw the flick of the prince's trailing sleeve, and Bi'an bowed further, forehead almost touching the threshold of the room before getting up to his feet. 

The Prince turned away, but not towards his bed; instead to what looked like a desk.

Even though Bi'an thought the prince _should_ rest, _should_ sleep - he'd looked so _white_ earlier, and still looked pale - the prince was clearly not going to do so. 

The little Prince was not little, not anymore.

* * *

"So," The Emperor said, trailing the fingers of one hand over his bows, "you found him a chance." 

Chen Pingping tipped his head forward, fingers curled under his sleeves. "Your Majesty flatters this official. I merely allowed the opportunity to come to pass." 

The Emperor barked a laugh. " _Allow_. A remarkable choice of words." 

"Your Majesty placed the safety and security of the Capital City in my hands," Pingping murmured, "I would hardly dare to fail in this duty." 

"Does that duty include my sons?" 

Pingping straightened up, his hands pressing against his thighs. "The Second Prince does live in the Capital." 

The Emperor's mouth quirked up like the slash of a knife. "And that, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that he is an omega boy." He picked up a bow, hefting it. His other hand idly twirled an arrow, and in one swift movement, nocked and drew the bow, and released arrow and breath both. "Like you used to be." 

Pingping's thumbs rubbed against the inner seams of his sleeves. "Forgive this official's audacity," he said, voice still that low, soft murmur, "but isn't the Second Prince now no longer an omega boy?" 

"Ha!" The Emperor picked up another arrow, fitting it to the riser. "Not after today. Like I said, you found him a chance." He drew it back, the limbs of the bow creaking. 

Pingping exhaled, and his words were like a breath in the space over his hands. "I bought it. With the lives of twenty of the Eldest Prince's guards." 

Twenty loyal, experienced, blooded guards, mostly beta, some alphas. 

He knew all their names, and their families. 

"I hope he would forgive me." 

He could still hear the whine of the bow under the Emperor's snort. "He'd have to realise your hand in it first, and while Lao Da has many virtues, understanding subterfuge is not one of them." He drew the arrow back further, his Imperial breath stirring the fletching, his thumb resting on the curve of his jaw. 

"If this official might dare ask…" 

"Lao Er might, in time," The Emperor said, and relaxed the draw, unslotting the arrow from its nock, and spun it so he could run his thumb over the curved edge of the arrow head. Then he snapped the arrow head off, flicking it into a box. It clinked with the other discarded arrow heads meant for reforging and reshaping. He considered the shaft, and then tossed it into the nearby brazier. "Though you most certainly didn't give him any edge with the Alpha you picked for him." 

"I didn't pick an alpha for him," Pingping said mildly. 

The Emperor glanced at him. "Of course you didn't." His smile was sharp, but his voice was equally mild. "There's no forgiveness for such things." 

The Emperor tossed the bow to his left hand, then in one movement, slotted the bow back into its place on the bow rack even as he slid his right hand out of his red outer robe. With the freed hand, he reached across his chest to grasp the collar of the robe and drew it down and off his body, in such a way that the entire edge of the embroidered hem passed over the scent glands of his neck. 

"You, of all people," he said, "should know that best." 

The robe didn't have a chance to brush the floor; in a graceful arc of his arm, the Emperor tossed it with apparent carelessness towards Pingping, and it fell in a flutter to drape across Pingping's lap. 

Pingping curled his arms up to tuck the silk closer to his body, and bowed over it. He didn't take any particular deeper breath. 

Within that one sentence of His Majesty's was a multitude of meanings; it might mean that Pingping would never be forgiven for this crime - or any others - or he wouldn't be forgiven because those he had wronged would never know he was responsible. Or that such an act had even been committed. Or even that there was nothing to forgive, for he had done nothing wrong, especially in the pursuit of his duties, and these were all entirely condoned. Further, which was his crime, truly? Was it for risking the Second Prince's life and safety in the streets, and causing an Emperor's son to be mated to an Alpha with literally no lineage whatsoever (for everyone in this room knew that it was merely a matter of time, before said mating took place)? Or was it in causing the deaths of twenty of the Eldest Prince's guards? 

He knew that His Majesty meant all of it, every shade of it, and none all at once. Conversations with His Majesty was to exist in the state of guilt and innocence, to know his meaning from the lines between words. It was being that arrow in His Majesty's hand, pulled forth with the force of His Majesty's intent, frozen in that inbetween state of readiness - both deadly and harmless. Silk and steel both at once. 

His Majesty's weapon, always, in perpetuity. 

"This official understands," Chen Pingping said, and bowed again. 

END

**Author's Note:**

> Drelfina: At this rate I will be the only one writing the English fic of this fandom. bleh.
> 
> shanzhu: 山竹, [mangosteen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosteen). LOL
> 
> Xiong Zhang: 兄长 Similar in formality to Aniue of Japanese terms of address, this is one of the higher formalities a younger brother uses to address an older brother. 
> 
> Da Ge: 大哥 a much more casual, and/or intimate term of address for a younger sibling uses to address their Oldest brother. 
> 
> Some terms of titles were translated (Yuanzhang - the head of- was translated as Chairman because it was much closer in meaning than hte literal translation.) 
> 
> Lao Da, Lao Er: 老大，老二. These terms that only the Emperor can use in reference to his sons, because they're _his_ sons. Specifically, they refer to birth positions. Lao Da - refers to the Eldest Prince. Lao Er refers to the second prince (ie Li Chengze.) 
> 
> We named the eldest prince Li Chengzhong (李承忠) because he was given no name in the book or show - who knows if they will give him one in the next season. 
> 
> Ze'er (泽儿) and Lao Er were both used by the Emperor to refer to Li Chengze - but Ze'er is a much more intimate term of address because it's a nickname based on his actual name instead of a pointer towards his birth position. In this AU, I used it to indicate that it was used when he was still a coddled, indulged omega prince. As soon as he decided to be considered Beta and fight for the throne, his father changed his term of address Lao er - making him equal in social status and caste as his older brother, and in the future, the Crown Prince who would be his brother. 
> 
> Consider that when Chengze used "older brother" he was always saying Da ge - the switch to Xiong Zhang in the end of his piece is significant.
> 
> In this ABO AU, alphas are not the coddled sons of Chinese society - instead, alpha children (and beta heirs) are expected to grow up faster, and grow more protective, while omega children, being so rare, can be coddled and indulged all their lives; that's not even taking into account issues of class - where poorer children take on adult responsibilities early. Hence why Xie Bi'an, even if he was two years younger than the Second Prince, being so protective of the omega prince was hardly considered out of place.


End file.
